From what I could tell, and from experiance of buying a gun in a gun store, you don't really go to the gun store knowing what certain gun you want, but you have an idea of what you want, and if you see a gun that fits what you want in every way you want, that's the gun.

I will not know what I will get, but I know what I willwant from my shotgun, and the only way to get any gun is to find it first, then pay, etc.

WhenI get enough money and get in the shopping mood, I will go to the two gun dealers in my area, (not Wal-Mart), and look at their guns, their specials, the used ones, and look at all the guns, find the best choices from both stores, and eliminate them, and get the one that's the best of what I can get.

This doesn't mean I won't get a pump, if I see an excellentpump-action that's got everything I need, I might just get it. I'll just have to wait and see.

A good example of this is that when I was lookingfor a rifle, Ithought I wanted a Remington 700 SPS in 7mm-08, but I saw one, and suddenly, the rifle looked boring to me, and didn't "speak" to me much, and it was just under $500, very expensive for what appeared to be nothing, so we left and went to another gun store, where one of the guys that worked there was helping us out in choosing a rifle.

I told him I wanted a 7mm-08, and there were none in the used guns, so I thought "Be ready to rip out the cash", I was looking at some others, and there was one, but it was a youth model, and something about that didn't appeal to me.

I saw a Remington673, and hours of drooling over the Remington website made me know exactly what it was. I recalled seeing the very expensive prices on the website, and I thought, well, it's always cool to hold an expensive rifle, andI looked at the price tag, and it was $300 less than usual, because it was from a Christmas sale.
I saw that it was in the .308 cartridge, but I figured, "It's an excellent cartridge, and it's a popular sniper round, whereas the 7mm-08 isn't."
Suddenly, I felt really good about that rifle, and I never let it go, since I was afraid someone would take it.

I am still proud of that gun, and always will be, but the funny thing is, I didn't get what I set out to get, I got better.

But, the point is, I will have to wait till I actually see what the gun stores have.

Thanks for all your help, you've helped to give me an idea of what I do want, and that'll make all the difference in what I get.
Thanks again, I'll try to remember what you guys said, and hopefully, the next time I have a thread about shotguns, I will be more specific.

Josiah